DECEMBER 2012
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TRIATHLON CLUB OF SAN DIEGO
W DECEMBER CLUB MEETING Special Guest:
Peter Jacobs 2012 IM World Champion Wednesday, December 13th 5-7pm Location: Function Smart 10803 Vista Sorrento Parkway, Suite 100 San Diego, CA 92121
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TriNews
hen my brother came home from the army in 1980, one of his goals was to get his kid sister in shape—and so I became a jogger. We ran a few times a week in a park near the college he attended in an older part of town where A Tale of Fiction towering trees offered plenty of shade. The nearby homes had seen better days, but the neighborhood folks were friendly. My brother is the kind of guy who says hello to everyone. We used to greet an older man who regularly sat on the same park bench, his redtipped, white cane propped against his knees. With his wavy, gray hair, hawk-like nose, and mocha skin, I couldn’t guess his heritage. He always said hello to us. One day he sat there without his sunglasses, and I could see his filmy eyes were clouded from cataracts. “You’re slapping your right foot,” he said as we passed that day. I turned to look at him. “Huh?” “You’re slapping your foot. Your gait’s uneven. You’ll get injured if you keep running like that. And you, young man, are pounding your feet. Run lighter if you want to improve.” After that day, the man offered his two-cents worth of coaching whenever we passed. Sure
enough, our running improved after following his advice. One summer day when I was looking for an excuse to cool off, we stopped in the shade to talk to the man.
By Barbara Javor
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
“I’m Percival Purcell,” he said after we introduced ourselves. “Folks call me Percy.” “How do you know so much about running?” my brother asked. “There was a time … oh, you don’t want to hear an old, black man’s stories.” “Sure we do,” I said, happy to be out of the sun for a few minutes. “Do you know about the 1936 Olympics in Germany when Jesse Owens won the hundredand two hundred-meter races?” “Yes,” we both said. “I had hoped to run there too. I grew up in a Southern town, dirt poor, with little opportunicontinued on page 22